Gate or door



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD R. CHASE,

OF FINDLAY, OHIO.

GATE OR DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,126, dated February16, 1897. I Application filed April 6, 1896- Serial No. 586,466. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may condor/t:

Be it known that I, EDWARD R. CHASE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Findlay, Hancock county, Ohio, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Sliding or Rolling Gates or Doors, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to field and driving gates or doors which, insteadof swinging on hinges, are opened and shut by sliding or rolling upon atrack, and particularly to devices and mechanism by which a person maysit in a vehicle or upon a horse and by operatinga lever or othersuitable connecting device may open and close the gate or door withoutalighting from either side and may upon such closing securely lock thesame. I accomplish these objects by means of the mechanism illustratedin the accompanying drawings, which are hereby referred to and made apart hereof, which represent my invention as applied to a gate, butwhich, it will be at once seen, can be as easily applied to a barn orother door, if desired.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in elevation of the device with allits parts, so far as essential mechanism is concerned, ready foroperation, but not showing the front frieze of the protective cover overthe track. Fig. 2 is a view of the upper portion of the rear post of thegate and post on either side thereof with attachments thereon to supporta line used in operating the gate. Fig. 3 is a view on a transversecutting, showing the relation of the track, its supports, and thepulleys or rollers supporting the gate or door. Fig. 4 shows a doubleguide-pulley used to control the bottom of the gate in motion; and Fig.5 is a transverse cutting of the top boards of the gate, showing adevice for unlocking the gate when the same is to be opened from theground without use of the operating lines or levers specially adapted tobe used from a vehicle or horse.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views, inwhich- A is an ordinary team-gate having an extended end stile B,bearing apulley or roller 0 at its upper end. Ahas also at or near itscenter lengthwise a lever or rod D, so joined to it as to be capable ofa half-revolution and bearing at its free end a pulley or roller E.

The end of the rod D attached to the gate is, for reasons hereinaftermentioned, extended beyond its bearing '0 some little distance, so thatit comes in contact with the vertical rod L. Gate A has also at its rearuppercorner the pulley or roller F and has its bottom board Z convexlyshaped on its lower side and lengthwise.

H, J, and K form a frame surrounding gate A, K supporting a track G,properly held in place by its ends being fast in J and H at t and t,andhaving intermediate supports of castings s s. K, with its track, &c.,may be suitably covered bya box or cornice, as shown in Fig. 3, which isnot, however, a material part of the device. Track Gis mechanicallycomposed of two inclined planes descending to front and rear from itscenter. Post J has upon it, above the gate, two guides e and 6, adaptedto receive the grooved pulley E on lever D, and of length at least equalto the distance from pulley E to bearing 1: on D.

Above the guides e e are two pulleyst'and 6, attached in any suitablemanner topost J. In line with J and at right angles to the gate are twoposts Q and Q, bearing pulleys o 0, attached to the end of D, bearing Ein any convenient manner, and passing over i and z" and o 0' are lines mand m, respectively, provided with handles. At the lower part of post Jis a guide X, bearing pulleys or rollers y y, adapted to receive betweenthem Z of the gate. Running rearward from J, having one end therein, isa track G at the same height as pulley F. G is in all its partsidentical in construction with G and has its parts respectively parallelthereto and in the same vertical plane. G may be conveniently supportedon the posts of the fence or otherwise.

L is a rod passing down through the capboard or on the side of the gate,having an ofiset M at its lower end adapted to engage the extended endof lever D when the gate is shut, but not interfering with itssemirevolution on its bearing 1; as it is opened or shut. It is providedwith any suitable cap or head to prevent it from falling out when notsupported by D.

To more particularly describe the parts above mentioned and to show therelations of the same with their several uses, the gate A is suspendedon the tracks G and G by the pulleys O and F, the lower board .6 beingbetween the guide-rollers y y. The gate being thus hung, the lever D isjoined to A preferably at the top rail or board of the gate by pivot 11at a point a few inches in front of the apex or center of the track G.The other end by the traveling pulley or roller E is engaged by theguides e a, so as to allow it free motion vertically. This pulley E ispreferably grooved with a V-shaped groove and the guides e e beveled tofit such groove for the purpose of holding them securely togetherwithout the necessity of the joint between them being close enough tobind, though any other convenient form will do. The guides should comedown upon the post .I, so that the rod D will, when the gate is shut, bepractically level. In that position the gate will be, by the rod D,locked shut. In this position L will rest upon the upper side of D byits offset M and the lock can be released by pressing down upon L, whichwill depress the end of D to such a degree that the angle between D andthe gate will increase until the gate can be pushed back, and the rod Dwill, by its traveler E, controlled by the guides e c, assume first avertical position and then as the gate passes the center again falltoward the lower end of the guides. The tracks G and G may be of anyconvenient shape, but it will be possibly found to be more economical tomake them of pipe and to have the pulleys O and F grooved to correspondto the size used, though a V-grooved pulley upon a track with an edgebeveled to a slightly more acute angle will be found a very convenientand secure form. Besides the end supports in the posts of the frame, Gand G may be supported at as many points as desired by castings orbraces, of which I show a suitable form in Fig. 3.

In operating the gate from a vehicle or horse, for which the device isespecially intended, use is made of the lines m or m, according to theside of the gate approached. Making use of the handle 0, a strong steadypull is given, which, by means of the rod D, is communicated to thegate. This is continued until the gate has acquired momentum enough toroll up the tracks G and G to the apex, when the rod D will of course bevertical, except, as before mentioned, the few inches of difference fromcenter in attaching D to the gate. lVhen the gate passes the center ofthe tracks, it completes its opening by gravity carrying it down thereverse part or end of the track. XV hen completely opened and the leverD has again fallen to its lowest point in that position, the gate Willnot be locked open, as it was shut, because the (litteronce from thecenter of the attachment of D, being by virtue of its reverse positiondoubled with reference to the portion of the gate between the point a;and the pulley E E, will not fall sullicientlylow to form a lock. Thereis this further advantage in put-ting o in the position mentioned as tothe center, viz: Any track with two inclines so slight as are necessaryfor the successful operation of the device described is apt inpracticalconstruction to have flat place at the apex large enough tocause a gate to stop on a dead-center in opening or shutting if the pullgiven was not sufiiciently strong. If D was hinged to A exactly in thevertical center of the track, in case of such a stop it would be exactlyvertical, and it would be impossible without dismounting to start thegate either way; but by setting the gate end of D a little from thecenter should such a stop occur the angle remaining between D and thevertical would give opportunity to communicate motion to the gate tostart it from the center; and it will also be noticed that in closingthe gate should a pull only be given sufficient to bring D to thevertical the gate would of its own gravity roll back and giveopportunity for a second pull that would be suflieient. It will now benoticed that the bottom board 2 is in the form above mentioned toaccommodate the rising of the gate upon the tracks G G and still beretained within the guides y y without unduly lengthening the axles ofthese.

I have described above and illustrated in the drawings mentioned theapplication of power by means of a rope or line from the end of lever Dto 9; but it will be perceived at once that this power might be appliedby means of connecting the pulley end of D with ahorizontal lever at aproper height and make the posts Q Q fulcrums by putting at properdistances, and so operating the gate, and in some cases this methodmight be preferable. The action of the gate upon the tracks G G would beidentical with its action if the line described is used.

Having thus described my invention, so that any mechanic can comprehendits essential features and construct it, what I claim as novel, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. The combination with a gate or door A, of the tracks G, and G eachformed of two oppositely-inclined planes; and a bottom board .2, havingits lower edge shaped to planes, the converse of said tracks, G, G,substantially as above described.

2. The combination with the gate or door A, of the tracks G, G; thelever D, pivoted near the middle of upper gate-rail, the guides E, E,engaging one end of said lever; and the vertical rod L having an offsetlWI, resting upon the other end of said lever, substantially asdescribed.

EDIVARD R. CHASE. In presence of- GEO. W. RUHL, A. G. FULLER.

IIC

